Chip giant Nvidia has set a new sales record, a sign that demand for artificial intelligence remains strong despite fearsthe technology may be overhyped. Nvidia, the world's most valuable company, on Wednesday reported revenue of 46.74bn for the three months that ended in July, a rise of 56 percent year-on-year. Profit for the quarter was 26.42bn, a yearly rise of 59 percent. Nvidia's latest earnings report had been hotly anticipated as the tech giant is widely seen as a barometer of the AI boom, which has lifted the US stock market from all-time high to all-time high. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said that production of Blackwell Ultra, Nvidia's latest platform using its most advanced chips, was ramping up "at full speed" and demand for the company's products was "extraordinary".

Nvidia has notched a market capitalisation of 4 trillion, making it the first public company in the world to reach the milestone and solidifying its position as one of Wall Street's most-favoured stocks. On Wednesday, shares of the leading chip designer rose as much as 2.5 percent to an all-time high of 164, benefiting from the continuing surge in demand for artificial intelligence technologies. The stock's recent rally comes despite a sluggish start to the year, when the emergence of a Chinese discount artificial intelligence model developed by DeepSeek shook confidence in stocks linked to the sector. Nvidia achieved a 1 trillion market value for the first time in June 2023 and tripled it in about a year, faster than Apple and Microsoft, the only other United States firms with a market value of more than 3 trillion. Microsoft is the second-biggest US company, with a market capitalisation of 3.75 trillion.

China now has more industrial robots per 10,000 workers than the United States, according to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). This is the first time China has surpassed the United States in robot density. In 2021, China averaged 322 industrial robots for every 10,000 employees. According to the IFR, China saw a huge jump in robot installations in 2021. The country's industrial robotics market saw 243,300 installations last year, a 44% increase from the year before.

"The use of robotics and automation is growing at a breathtaking speed," says Marina Bill, President of the International Federation of Robotics. "Within six years, annual robot installations more than doubled. According to our latest statistics, installations grew strongly in 2021 in all major customer industries, although supply chain disruptions as well as different local or regional headwinds hampered production." Asia remains the world's largest market for industrial robots. Installations for the region s largest adopter China grew strongly by 51% with 268,195 units shipped.

The new World Robotics report shows an all-time high of 517,385 new industrial robots installed in 2021 in factories around the world. This represents a growth rate of 31% year-on-year and exceeds the pre-pandemic record of robot installation in 2018 by 22%. Today, the stock of operational robots around the globe hits a new record of about 3.5 million units." "The use of robotics and automation is growing at a breathtaking speed," says Marina Bill, President of the International Federation of Robotics. "Within six years, annual robot installations more than doubled.

The new World Robotics report shows an all-time high of 517,385 new industrial robots installed in 2021 in factories around the world. This represents a growth rate of 31% year-on-year and exceeds the pre-pandemic record of robot installation in 2018 by 22%. Today, the stock of operational robots around the globe hits a new record of about 3.5 million units." "The use of robotics and automation is growing at a breathtaking speed," says Marina Bill, President of the International Federation of Robotics. "Within six years, annual robot installations more than doubled.

It's no secret the technology sector of the stock market has been crushed this year. The Nasdaq 100 index, a widely followed benchmark for high-growth tech companies, has declined by 29% in 2022 so far. But many individual stocks have been hit even harder, particularly those focused on serving consumers because it makes them more vulnerable to the broader economic slowdown. Interest rates have been rising because inflation recently topped a 40-year high, and that's placing a stranglehold on people's spending power. Still, some consumer-centric companies have managed to maintain rapid growth rates in this difficult period.

The stock market is currently on the roughest losing streak since the start of the pandemic in 2020. The broad S&P 500 index is down 19% from its all-time high, putting it within a whisker of bear market territory. But the tech-centric Nasdaq-100 index is already there, with a loss of 28.3% since November 2021. While the investment picture might be nerve-wracking for many investors, history suggests down markets always eventually recover, so this might actually be a great time to put some money to work. Here's one fast-growing stock leveraging advanced technology, and it's worth considering because it's trading at an 88.9% discount to its all-time high, despite the company being highly profitable.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is often used as a buzzword when companies are trying to sell their product. They often have some form of AI, but it really isn't as much of a game-changer as it is hyped up to be. However, three businesses with real AI products making a difference in the industry are Nvidia ( NVDA -2.46%), CrowdStrike ( CRWD -0.25%), and C3.ai ( AI -9.82%). This trio of stocks is highly diversified and gives investors three different avenues to approach an investment in AI. Nvidia provides the hardware powering AI technology, CrowdStrike uses AI in cybersecurity, and C3.ai's tools help enterprises predict the future across a massive organization. When deployed correctly, artificial intelligence can make a huge difference in a product, and each of these businesses achieves that.

Insurers' use of predictive analytics to fight fraud has reached an all-time high, according to an insurance fraud technology study by the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud and SAS. The study reveals that 80% of insurers use predictive modeling to detect fraud, up from 55% in 2018. In a category new to the 2021 survey, the study also underscores the importance of identity verification software, cited by 40% of survey respondents. Identity analytics is quickly becoming must-have technology for insurers amid an alarming spike in malicious phishing scams, up 600% since the pandemic's onset. "The shifts we've seen since the 2018 study emphasize the increasingly sophisticated technologies needed to foil insurance fraudsters' criminal exploits," said David Hartley, Director of Insurance Solutions at SAS. "Predictive modeling is up 25%. Text mining has nearly doubled, jumping from 33% to 65% in three years. These findings prove that, even as COVID-19 has fueled rampant fraud, insurers are agilely stretching their advanced analytics capabilities to counter rapidly changing threats."